Monthly Archives: November 2012

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Nov 30,2012

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal’s personal website has been hacked and defaced allegedly by Anonymous India group for the minister’s stand on IT Act.

The website www.kapilsibalmp.com was on Thursday attacked and contents were altered to show the minister in poor light.

Mr. Sibal, who represents the Chandni Chowk constituency in Parliament, uses this portal to interact with his constituency.

While most of the website has been restored, certain sections such as blogs, gallery, speeches and conversation were still not working.

While no official comment was immediately available, a source in the minister’s office said the website is an old one and had not been updated for sometime now.

The Twitter account of Anonymous India (@opindia_revenge), a group against Internet censorship and curbs on free speech, said Mr. Sibal’s site was getting “trolled“.

“The time to sit silently is gone. Call your friends and get them to protests sites,” said a link posted on the Twitter handle.

Meanwhile, the government on Friday said about 294 websites belonging to various ministries and government departments were hacked in the January-October 2012 period.

“A total number of 201, 303, 308 and 294 websites belonging to various ministries and departments in the government were hacked during the year 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 (till October), respectively,” Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora said.

A teenage girl was beheaded by a relative in northern Afghanistan after she turned down his marriage proposals, according to reports.

The victim, named as Gisa, was decapitated with a knife in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province on Tuesday, local police said. She is believed to be around 15-years-old.

A police spokesman said two men, named as Sadeq and Massoud, had been arrested following the teenage girl’s murder.

The two men are understood to be close relatives of the victim that live in the same village.

Local police sources have said the men behind the attack wanted to marry the girl, but their advances had been turned down by victim’s father.

Violence: The teenage girl is understood to have been beheaded after she refused a relative’s repeated marriage proposals (FILE PHOTO)

Gisa is understood to have been attacked as she returned to her home in Kulkul village after going out to collect water from a nearby well.

Her father told a local news agency he had not wanted his daughter to get married because she was too young.

Afghanistan’s Taliban regime – notorious for its oppression of women in the country – was ousted in 2001, but extreme violence against women is still rife.

In 2009 the Elimination of Violence Against Woman law was introduced in Afghanistan, criminalising child marriage, forced marriage, ‘giving away’ a girl or woman to settle a dispute, among other acts of violence against the female population of the ultra-conservative Islamic nation.

But the UN has said there is a ‘long way to go’ before the rights of Afghan women are fully protected.

Comprehensive official statistics on the number of incidents of violence against women in the country are difficult to establish, with the majority of cases going unreported. However in the year to March 2011, Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission registered over 2,000 acts of violence against women.

The NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force has given high priority to re-establishing women’s rights that were eradicated under the Taliban as part of its efforts to create a security strategy for Afghanistan.

But with the deadline for international troops to pull out of the country – scheduled for the end of 2014 – looming, activists have warned that the outlook for the female population remains bleak.

Human Rights Watch has said women’s rights are increasingly at risk in the run up to the scheduled draw-down of NATO forces, with early and forced marriage, impunity for violence against women and lack of access of justice among the long list of challenges they still face.

‘Beheaded': The teenage girl is understood to have been attacked as she returned to her home in the Imam Sahib district after fetching water from a nearby well

While Afghan women have won back some basic rights since the Taliban was toppled 11 years ago, so-called honour killings remain relatively commonplace in the war-torn Islamic nation.

HONOUR KILLINGS IN AFGHANISTAN THIS YEAR

The summer of 2012 saw a spate of so-called honour killings in Afghanistan.

In July a father shot his two teenage daughters dead in the Nad Ali district of Helmand when they returned home four days after running away with a man.

Earlier that same month shocking video footage emerged of a 22-year-old Afghan woman being gunned down with an AK47 in front of a crowd of baying villagers in Parwan province.

Thought to have been married to a member of a hardline Taliban militant group, the woman, known only as Najiba, was executed after being accused of having an affair with a Taliban commander.

Her murder followed a horrific case in Ghazni province in which a man beheaded his ex-wife and two of their children.

Serata’s former spouse barged into her home and decapitated her in front of their eight-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter.

He then killed the children because they had seen, police said.

This year the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission recorded 16 incidents of honour killings in March and April alone, the first two months of the Afghan new year.

During the month of July a spate of brutal killings in the country – which left four women and two children dead – attracted international attention.

The Independent Human Rights Commission warned last month that Afghanistan has seen a sharp rise in cases of both honour killings and rape, adding that many incidents of murder and sexual assault go unreported to authorities.

The ever-present threat of violence at the hands of men in a patriarchal society has also led to an increase in cases of Afghan women taking their own lives.

Dozens of women commit suicide in the country each year, often to escape failed or abusive marriages.

Divorce is still taboo in Afghanistan, and women who flee their marriages, if caught, face stringent prison sentences.

A family court established in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in 2003 offered a semblance of hope for women in the country that are trapped in forced marriages or subject to domestic violence – but it still adheres to Afghanistan’s version of Islamic sharia law.

Traditional Afghan culture places no onus on a man who wants to leave his spouse to go through legal proceedings – he can divorce his wife without any approval of the justice system. In the court in Kabul, a woman must plead her case before judges and lawyers, and she must have five male witnesses willing to attend in support.

A recent case saw a 17-year-old girl forced to accept a marriage proposal from a man she despised successfully argued for her engagement to be scrapped by the court, according to The Washington Post.

Tragically for Farima, who dreamed of becoming a doctor, the decision did not mark a return to the life of relative freedom she enjoyed before her engagement. Before taking her battle to the court, the desperate teenager had thrown herself from the roof of her Kabul home.

Farima broke her back in the fall, but survived. Her fiance insisted that their planned marriage must still go ahead, leading the now disabled teenager to take her battle to the family court.

Following the case, the 17-year-old is back in her childhood home. Her family did not allow her to return to school, and the injuries she sustained in her failed suicide bid mean relatives fear she will be unlikely to marry in the future. While she managed, against the odds, to free herself from a fate she dreaded, the future for this defiant Afghan girl still looks bleak.

Challenges: Afghan women have won back some basic human rights since the fall of the Taliban, but there is still a ‘long way to go’, activists say (FILE PHOTO)

Ahmedabad: With anti-incumbency against local legislators weighing heavy on his mind, chief minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged people to vote for him and not the candidates. “If we want to build a grand Gujarat, I will need your support. Forget all candidates. I am your candidate,” Modi said during his 3D holographic projection event held across 26 locations.

Attacking “power hungry” Congress, Modi said, “I don’t want power. I want an opportunity to serve six crore Gujaratis.” Rubbishing the ‘Ghar nu ghar’ scheme launched by the Congress, Modi said, “They had made such promises in Delhi too. Eight years on, nobody has got anything.”
The chief minister has been defensive while announcing BJP’s list of candidates. The CM, who is known for his no-repeat theory, has been forced to field the same candidates despite anti-incumbency against them in their respective regions. Modi’s supporters say the CM repeated candidates largely due to Keshubhai Patel’s Gujarat Parivartan Party, which may be a fertile ground for BJP rebels.
During his hour-long address, Modi raised issues like ban on cotton export, Pakistan seizing boats of Gujarat’s fishermen and height of Sardar Sarovar dam to name a few.
“Gujarat will take a leap in ship building industry and promote sea weed cultivation,” he said. While the CM tried to reach out to a diverse audience, his speech revolved around the tribals and fishermen. “Congress is shocked to see how one man using technology is reaching so many places at the same time. To counter me, they are using lies like wrong picture to depict a different Gujarat,” he said._____________________________________________________________________
Mr. Modi’s statement – ‘Vote for me, not candidates’ in The Times of India of Ahmedabad edition have made us to believe that he has become bigger than not just his party but also its “ideology”. This is nothing but authoritarianism and fascism.
It is known to the world that whoever becomes bigger than the organisation and ideology of its organisation will be the person responsible for the end of that ideology and the organisation. –

Respected prime minister ji, I am manager of bank in V___ (name censored under official secrecy, sedition, information technology and 11 other Acts; six loiterers outside bank branch given breathalyzer tests, two security guards at bank suspended for “poking” each other on Facebook), class VI town in Uttar Pradesh and I am hearing about this direct cash transfer business for few years now. I am also attended two-day training programme for bank officers on this in December 2011 at L___ (censored under ibid, nota bene, etc.,). Now I am hearing this is happening, and in my district. Sir, I am feeling very confused.

Then my one more neighbour is coming. He is saying, Arre, murkh, you look at the 29 schemes that will start on 1 January. They are all cash schemes anyway: scholarships and pensions. So how is anything changing? People will only now come to your bank with Aadhaar cards. And if they don’t have Aadhaar cards, you don’t pay.

I am reading in the papers and also watching on TV that this is a “game changer” and I am having to convince my foolish neighbour that cash transfer changing game has nothing to do with cricket match-fixing (He is very angry about defeat to British team in Mumbai). It has to do with election, but he is saying all same. I am telling him that now I will have to open hundreds of new savings accounts, and I am having only three clerks and Mrs Singh, who is sister-in-law of MLA and only comes to bank twice a day to light agarbatti in front of poster of Mr Aamir Khan she has put up. My security guards have been suspended by competent authority under Public Decency Act. How I will serve so many customers?

But the money for pensions and scholarships are not coming to my bank in time, I am saying. They are months late sometimes. In a few cases, they are two years late. How will having Aadhaar change that? Also, how will Aadhaar know who is poor and who is not poor? Poor and rich, I am thinking, don’t have different fingerprints. Not to worry, my neighbour is telling me. Aadhaar will know everything about you, where you go, what you buy, all your hanky-panky. Mrs Singh will put all in computer. She can have screensaver of Mr Aamir Khan also. Her computer will be linked to many other computers and no hanky-panky will be allowed. More than 21 crore people are having Aadhaar and they will come and take cash. What do you care if they are poor or not? They have Aadhaar.

What about people who are not having Aadhaar? I am asking. Then they will bring enrolment forms for Aadhaar, my neighbour is saying. If they don’t have that also, they will bring sarpanch and hold dharnas outside your bank, that is all. Anyway, the roads are so bad, they will take two days to reach your bank, Aadhaar or no Aadhaar. During monsoon, three months, no one will come.

But I am knowing so many people who have Aadhaar cards but who are not those people at all, I am saying. So my neighbour is asking me if I have targets. Yes, I tell him, and I am meeting disbursal targets every year by giving money to MLA and his cousins. Aadhaar people also have targets, my neighbour is saying. They have to give so many cards every month. So some fictitious fellows and non-Indians may have come in. But you do not worry. You open account. And they will withdraw money from ATM.

ATM? What ATM? I am saying. There will be many ATMs, my neighbour is explaining, that will go in cars from village to village and people will take out cash from them. But where will cash in the ATMs come from? I am asking. What do you care? He is telling me. Private sector is there. Will that be real cash? I am asking. Mostly, he is saying. You are not hearing of white-label ATMs? Now you don’t have to be bank to set up ATM.

Also panchayats and cooperative societies will be giving the cash, so you need not worry about only three clerks and no security guard. You will only be sending report on computer. But all panchayats and cooperative societies are run by my MLA and his cousins, I am telling, so there will be hanky-panky! But my neighbour is saying, no. No hanky-panky possible when technology is there. People can want to be badmaash, but telephone and computer will not allow. Only big people will be able to continue to do badmaashi now. You are kis khet ki mooli?

All this time, my friend who is guide for poverty tourism is listening and downloading ring tunes. He is now saying, but cash transfer is already happening in many states. With own eyes I saw. In Bihar and Orissa, they are giving money for cycles and school uniforms. In other states also. Lots of bearded firangs in SUVs are coming and taking video. So what is new?

No game change, my foolish neighbour is then saying. The British will win in Kolkata also.

So, sir, I am scratching my head only about this. Also, sir, can I meet my disbursal targets if MLA and cousins don’t have Aadhaar cards? I am not wanting any untoward incidents, sir. I am small man.

Sandipan Deb is a senior journalist and editor who is interested in puzzles of all forms.

The future of 23-year-old software engineer Vinodhini, who was attacked with acid by a man at Karaikal on November 14, seems bleak as doctors have ruled out the possiblity of an eye transplant and said she may not be able to regain her vision.

“Her eyeballs are damaged. Acid damages everything; it goes up to the bone. So, the chance of her getting back vision through transplant is not possible,” said Dr Jayaraman, of the burns ward, Kilpauk Medical College Hospital (KMCH). Doctors identified the acid used on Vinodhini as sulphuric acid. According to doctors, it would take another six months for Vinodhini to recover and return home, as she would have to undergo reconstructive surgery at KMC. But the surgery is the last process before which she would have to go through other treatments.

Doctors said that the burnt and damaged skin would be removed in an operation, after the effects of the chemical ware off. “There will be a time gap before she undergoes a reconstructive surgery,” a doctor said. Vinodhini, who was working in a Chennai-based company, was walking towards a bus stand in Karaikal when a man threw acid on her. Her father, a private security guard, also suffered burns when he attempted to rescue his daughter.

Police said the attacker, Suresh, who was a dealer in construction materials, was obsessed with Vinodhini. “One of Vinodhini’s male colleagues had accompanied her when she came home for Deepavali. Suresh was upset that the man was accompanying her. The colleague also sustained injuries in the attack. Suresh also sustained acid burns as Vinodhini spat out acid that went into her mouth, on his face,” a police official said.

Karaikal police, who registered a case under four sections, including attempt to murder, against Suresh, said acid used to destroy trees and roots was used in the attack.

Facebook is controlled by the same people who are in control of other media.Whenever I post anything against the Israeli aggression or against any Arab dictators my posts are deleted and I get warning or get punishment of not being able to post anything on FB, pls check the screen shots of the warnings- Rizvi https://www.facebook.com/Rizviz

The admins of occupy wallstreet group used to share rizvi’s posts which was liked and shared by 40-50 thousand members everyday.

Even they got similar messages and on of the admin was banned from FB.

THE CARTOONS below have been banned, friends and myself cnanot see on mozilla firefox , but i can see on google chroome as it is connected to gmail account, one of my friends informed, hence i am sharing FACEBOOK ALBUM hope all can see the cartoons, PL DO COMMENT if you can see or not

Overwhelming majority votes to recognise Palestine as non-member state as US and Israel are left to condemn decision

Palestinians celebrate in Ramallah after the general assembly voted to recognise Palestine as a non-member state. Photograph: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images

The United Nations general assembly voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to recognise Palestine as a state, in the face of opposition from Israeland the US.

The 193-member assembly voted 138 in favour of the plan, with only nine against and 41 abstentions. The scale of the defeat represented a strong and public repudiation for Israel and the US, who find themselves out of step with the rest of the world.

Thursday’s vote marked a diplomatic breakthrough for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and could help his standing after weeks in which he has been sidelined by Palestinian rivals Hamas in the Gaza conflict.

Abbas, who flew from Ramallah, on the West Bank, to New York to address the general assembly, said: “The moment has arrived for the world to say clearly: enough of aggression, settlements and occupation.”

A Palestinian flag was unfurled on the floor of the general assembly after the vote.

Several hundred people turned out in Yasser Arafat square in Ramallah on the West Bank, waving flags and singing along to nationalist music to mark the occasion.

In his address, Abbas noted the symbolism of the date, the 65th anniversary of the UN partitioning what had been British-ruled Palestine into Jewish and Arab countries. In the decades that followed, the idea of an independent Palestine had often been in danger of disappearing but had been “miraculously” kept alive, he said.

The general assembly resolution had finally given legitimacy to Palestine, he said. “The general assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the state of Palestine.”

Israel and the US immediately condemned the resolution. The office of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, described Abbas’s speech as incitement and full of lies about Israel.

Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, said: “Because this resolution is so one-sided, it doesn’t advance peace, it pushes it backwards.”

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, described the vote as “unfortunate and counterproductive”. She said: “Only through direct negotiations between the parties can the Palestinians and Israelis achieve the peace that both deserve: two states for two people, with a sovereign, viable and independent Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security with a Jewish and democratic Israel.”

Thursday’s resolution raises Palestine from being a “non-member observer entity” to a “non-member observer state”. The key is the final word, which confers UN legitimacy on Palestinian statehood and, while it cannot vote at the general assembly, it will enjoy other benefits, such as the chance to join international bodies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC).

While important, the resolution is limited, elevating Palestine only to the status of the Vatican, which until Thursday had been the only other non-member observer state. For Palestinians, the idea of an independent state bears little reality on the ground, given the degree of Israeli involvement in the West Bank and Gaza.

The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, speaking after the vote, disputed that the resolution conferred statehood on Palestine. “Today’s grand announcements will soon fade and the Palestinians will wake up to realise that little in their lives has changed,” Rice said. “This resolution does not establish Palestine as a state.”

But the coalition against the vote was thin. Apart from Israel and the US, those voting against were Canada, the Czech Republic, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Panama.

European countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland all voted yes. Britain and Germany both abstained, with Britain saying Abbas had failed to promise he would resume peace negotiations with Israel.

Some countries, especially in Europe, switched from abstention to support out of a feeling that Abbas needed to be bolstered after eight days of conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians earlier this month. An estimated 158 Palestinians died in Gaza, and six Israelis were killed.

The Israeli and US governments had put pressure on the Palestinians not to press the issue to a vote and threatened significant retaliation – mainly in the form of punitive financial measures. They have since largely backtracked over the threats, concerned that withdrawal of major funding might undermine Abbas at a time when he is particularly vulnerable.

The prospect of the Palestinians applying to bodies such as the ICC is one of the main reasons for Israeli opposition, fearful that the Palestinians might try to launch a case over Jewish settlements on the West Bank or over military attacks on the West Bank and Gaza.

Palestinian officials say they have no immediate plans to do so but it remains a new and useful lever for the future.

The Obama administration, in an effort to try to persuade the Palestinians to drop the vote, sent deputy secretary of state Bill Burns to see Abbas on Wednesday. But Abbas turned down his pleas.

The US, Israel and Britain wanted the Palestinians to give explicit pledges they would not seek to join the ICC any time soon and also to resume peace negotiations with the Israelis that were abandoned in 2010 over a settlement expansion.

In Ramallah, hundreds watching on a television in the square cheered enthusiastically for Abbas as he denounced Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza.

When the Israeli ambassador began addressing the UN, the crowd in the square watching on a giant television screen began booing. Prosor’s speech was suddenly cut, and nationalist music fired up.

But the mood of the crowd did not appear to be that of people who thought they were marking a great national moment, or who had hope that the general assembly’s recognition of Palestinian statehood amounted to anything like the birth of a real country.

must warn readers that the scribe has given half the facts. no mention of notices from state pollution control board, complaints to nhrc, nc saxena, etc. rather makes the case for val . the times of india of course.

The Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) went to the Supreme Court in March 2011 after the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) rejected stage-2 forest diversion proposal for the Niyamgiri bauxite mine, having an estimated deposit of 78 million tons, from where the state government had promised raw materials to Vedanta’s refinery.

The Vedanta group is the only private industrial house having done tangible investments in the state during the present Naveen Patnaikregime.

The one mtpa capacity refinery, however, has been embroiled in a series of controversies ranging from environmental activists protesting that it would jeopardise the fragile ecosystem of the region to political parties, particularly the Congress, clamouring that mining on Niyamgiri hill would spell doom for the endangered Dongria Kondh tribes.

OMC had got the lease in 2004. But mining became impossible in the area in the face of PILs that raised questions on the future of biodiversity, water bodies and Dongria Kondhs.

The court battle went on for several years, during which at least three major agencies like the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, Central Mines Planning and Design Institute, Ranchi, and the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) examined the charges made by the petitioners.

The Supreme Court cleared the project in August 2008 followed by the MoEF issuing environment clearance and Stage-1 green signal for diversion of about 660 hectares of forest proposed by the state government for the mining project. The MoEF while issuing the stage-1 clearance had put 21 conditions which included deposit of Rs 125 crore for development of wildlife and the tribals.

But the refinery’s problem though was far from over. This time it was the Central government that put blocks on the project. As the time came for the MoEF to issue the stage-2 forest clearance, it started dithering.

MoEF soon appointed an expert committee to study the fulfillment of conditions it had imposed earlier. The state government on its part placed its view before the MoEF that the conditions had been fulfilled, but things still were not going the refinery’s way.

As the MoEF constituted more expert groups to examine the charges against the project, it withdrew the stage-1 forest clearance as well. By August-end the signal was loud and clear that the project was heading to face a raw deal in the hands of the MoEF. And it happened.

MoEF rejected the stage-2 forest diversion proposal for the mining project sent by the state government. As the Centre refused to budge from its stand despite repeated persuasions by the state government, the OMC went to the apex court challenging the MoEF order.

Amid this the net loser has since been the refinery, which has in the meanwhile completed nearly 70% works, though allegedly illegally, for increasing the refinery’s capacity from one mtpa to 6 mtpa.

“We put up the plant believing the state government. Little did we know that the investment would take us running from pillar to post. We have no raw material in hand. We have already lost over Rs 2500 crore,” said a senior Vedanta official.

DEEPA KURUP, The Hindu
The internet, like the real world, is a much divided space. So when a controversial leader like Bal Thackeray dies, there are condolence messages and tributes, hot discussions on his legacy and criticism of what he stood for.

But all this made way for a near-united voice that condemned the arrests of two girls from Mumbai, who were arrested under Section 66A of the IT Act for an innocuous message posted on Facebook expressing casually a reaction to the city being shut down “in mourning”.

Collective angst

Perceived as an affront on freedom of speech on the internet, netizens everywhere spoke up against the authorities’ attempts to stifle dissent. In 120 characters, short status messages, casual cartoons, mash-ups and memes, netizens expressed their angst.

Gautam John, a popular Twitter-zen and lawyer, says he was “horrified” by the extent of the overreach by the police and its “misplaced priorities in dealing with the Facebook status update (which caused no physical violence) over the ransacking of the clinic (which was physical violence).” There was a complete lack of application of mind in choosing to apply Section 66A of the IT Act, a legislation he describes as a “world of trouble”.

Online petition

Mr. John has started an online petition on change.org, titled Amend Section 66A and Relook at the InternetLaws: Protect our ‘freedomofspeech’, where he points all recent incidents where Section 66A was used against netizens.

“It’s hard to [mistake] incompetence for malafide intentions. While I’m willing to give the legislature the benefit of doubt in the normal course, it is much harder to do so in this case. Especially when one looks at how Section 66A came to embody its current form,” he says.

Senthil S., IT professional and a member of the Free Software Movement of Karnataka, agrees. “It’s time for us to ask and push for a complete review of this legislation. Politicians and their cronies now seem to hate any voice of dissent. And because we’re not liquor barons, real estate rajas, mining mafias or media bosses, it appears that ordinary men and women — be it professors, students or artists — can be jailed for just having an opinion,” he says.

The FSMK had earlier organised offline protests in the city following the arrest of the West Bengal professor for emailing a cartoon, and plans to hold protests in the first week of December urging a review of the law.

Triggering fear

Cherian Tinu Abraham, social media enthusiast and an active Wikipedia editor, says that though people have spoken up against this, the Mumbai arrests triggered fear among those who share their opinions on social media.

His parents and in-laws, he says, called him the next day to tell him to be careful of what he posts and implored him to not share “strong opinions”.

He feels the government and the police have been unfair as the opinion shared was “fairly neutral”, and “with no intent to incite tensions”.

He points out that the arrest of the man who tweeted about Finance Minister Chidambaram’s son, comparing him and his “amassed wealth” to Robert Vadra, was also unfair. Funnily enough, after the man’s arrest, his number of followers on Twitter went from fewer than 20 to over 2,500 now, he said.

Over two weeks ago, many of you – in fact a group of a hundred women – signed on to an appeal letter addressed to Selvi Jayalalitha, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and the Chairperson of the National Commission on Women, asking that immediate action be taken to release Selvi, Sundari and Xavier Ammal – the three women activists and leaders from Idinthakarai who had been arrested on Sept 10 while carrying out a totally peaceful protest on the beaches near the KKNPP.Press releases were sent out to several newspapers and news channels carrying the names of several eminent women who had added their names to the petition, in addition to scores of other academics, writers, housewives, students and activists from across the country. With the exception of one or two newspapers, the news was ignored/blanked out by media.

Worse still, there has been no acknowledgement of receipt of the letters, let alone the courtesy of a reply, to date.

And just today, when I spoke to Uday Kumar in Idinthakarai – to tell him of our round of visits to party leaders and MPs in Delhi on the issue of Koodankulam and Nuclear Energy, he gave us the shocking news below:

“Four more cases against Xavier Ammal and Sundari slapped today by police.Yesterday morning, bail was ordered by the Madurai High Court on 6 cases against Xavier and Selvi, and 8 cases against Sundari. Evidently, the police filed fresh cases to prevent their release and suppress the Koodankulam movement.

Organise, Agitate. Demand release of the ~100 prisoners, revocation of the thousands of cases, and immediate moratorium on the reactor.”

This is both shocking and frightening. for the last three days a group of us has been doing the rounds in Delhi, meeting MPs from many political parties to raise concerns on Koodankulam, why nuclear energy , and demanding action against the

repression let loose on peaceful protest against KKNPP.Many of them have expressed themselves personally against nuclear Energy. Without exception they have condemned the action as undemocratic, but then hide behind the fact that this is a state subject about which they are helpless to take any action! Unbelievable and shameful.

What recourse do we have as citizens when even Parliament is unable or unwilling to take action on such blatant trampling of a peaceful, totally non violent campaign with all the might of the law against unarmed citizens who were only carrying out their democratic right to raise their concerns against the imposition of a dangerous plant in their midst?

RAISE YOUR VOICES, ORGANISE, AGITATE, DEMAND THE RELEASE OF ALL THOSE ARRESTED. AND YES, AN IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON THE REACTOR.

In closing, may I add that it this point it does not matter if you personally believe or dont believe in the value or inevitability of Nuclear energy for India. Personally I oppose it totally, but right now we are protesting the sheer brutality , as also the arbitrary and authoritarian manner in which the State has chosen to put down peaceful dissent.

Please raise your voices in and from every forum to which you belong. Write, speak, send messages to the leadership – both national and especially in Tamil Nadu.

I can do no better than to leave you with this inspirational message from Dr Helen Caldicottwhich I am copying below. Hard hitting and direct. Can she be more clear?!

Greetings to all – in solidarity – and requesting you to pass this on widely – take action as you think fit, we need to be heard.\Lalita Ramdas